Eagle Springs Elementary hosts African American Read-In

For the past 11 years, Ms. Betty Barnes has been an educator at Eagle Springs Elementary School where she teaches second grade. Prior to that, she was an instructor at Parkwood Elementary. It was during Barnes’ time at Parkwood that she was inspired to start a program that encourages children of all ethnic groups to read books that are written by African American authors.

“When I was there (Parkwood), I used to go to a lot of reading conventions,” Barnes explained. “One year I went to one, and they were talking about a program called African American Read-In.”

The national program got its start in 1990 and is the nation’s first and oldest event dedicated to promoting diversity in literature. The Black Caucus of the National Council of Teachers of English founded it in an effort to make literacy a significant part of Black History Month.

When Ms. Barnes began her career at Eagle Springs, she brought the idea of the program there with her and has been the one to spearhead it since inception. “When I first started, we could only do it the first Monday in the month of February, but eventually that changed, and now we can do it any day during Black History Month.” Barnes said her goal, in bringing this idea to the school, is not only to promote books that are crafted by Black writers, but also to inspire children who might have aspirations of being published. “I want them to know that one day they can be authors and they can write books of their own.”

The African American Read-In that Barnes hosts at the school is not only for the children; it’s an event that encourages community involvement. “This brings all different people from the surrounding area together,” she said. As a part of the event, adult volunteers gather at Eagle Springs and go to assigned classrooms to read to the children. “People from the base, retired teachers, board members, my family members,” Barnes listed. “They all come out to participate. We have about 30 classrooms here, and I try to assign one [volunteer reader] to each classroom.”

Among the volunteers at the 2020 event was a repeat participant—a local author by the name of Celestine Vessel. Vessel has written and published four multi-ethnic children’s titles: “Proud to Be Uniquely Me”, “The Boy Who Became a Cheetah”, “The Girl Who Became a Fox”, and “The Boy Who Became an Elephant”. All of her stories encourage children to build self-esteem and believe in themselves. At this year’s event, she read one of her books to a class of fifth graders.

“Typically, I target first through third grade readers,” Vessel said of her colorfully illustrated titles, “but the message is timely and universal, so every age group—including adults—tends to receive the message well.” She went on to express the importance of people of all ages having healthy self-images and embracing exactly who they are. “When you know who you are, and Whose you are,” Vessel stressed, “then you have the courage to do what God has called you to do and in the way He gave it to you to do.”

Barnes said the students at Eagle Springs look forward to this annual event. “They love it, and the volunteers love it, ” she said. “I think the main thing for the kids is that it gives them a different voice in their classroom. They listen to the same teacher almost all the time; so when they know a guest is coming, they tend to get excited, so they love this opportunity.” As for the volunteers, Barnes said, “Many of them are retired educators, and this gives them the opportunity to get back in the classroom and do what they loved doing for so long. Everybody wins.”